HYSTERIA AND BLAME REPLACED MOURNING

Last week, Rachel Morningstar Hoffman died tragically, allegedly
killed by two suspected drug dealers. Her family deserved a time for
mourning, reflection and retrospection.

But there was no time to spare for anyone to mourn, reflect or
retrospect. There was news to create, headlines to hunt, and a public
to panic.

It was time to alarm the tennis players, coaches, children and parents
who use the recreational and athletic facilities at Forestmeadows,
where the young woman was reportedly abducted. It was time to alarm
those who jog, hike, walk or bike through or near the park.

The Tallahassee Police Department has been sucker-punched for its
attempts to halt hysteria and prevent public panic. TPD had to dispel
the notion that another menacing figure like Gary Hilton was seeking
victims like Cheryl Dunlap. TPD knew that Tallahassee recreation areas
were not under siege and that another serial killer was not lurking.
It was time to allay fears, not feed them. But TPD would be
maliciously maligned in days to come. TPD would be attacked for
revealing details about Ms. Hoffman, and blamed for "leading a lamb to
slaughter." Procedures would be questioned. Public officials would
suggest that TPD may have made mistakes.

Over the weekend, TPD faced more media madness. Lawyers. News
conferences. Lengthy statements. Loaded questions. Fleeting fame.
Agitators came out of the woodwork. Activists spoke out against TPD
and decried the failures of the war on drugs. Drug decriminalization
reformers cried out. Andy Warhol would have been proud of the media
circus as well as the fame-seekers.

There was little concern that TPD feared jeopardizing an ongoing
investigation into the murder of Ms. Hoffman, or other investigations,
other confidential informants and other undercover narcotics officers.

In my criminal defense practice, it is abundantly clear that
confidential informants have become a fact of life in both state and
federal investigations. Despite the intense focus on TPD's use of
confidential informants, far too little has been mentioned about the
number of lives lost to drugs, the number of drug-related crimes
taking place daily in our community, the number of folks affected by
drug addiction, the necessity of stopping drug-related crimes, and the
obligation to protect all citizens from the multiple dangers
associated with illegal drugs.

How much easier is it to rush to judgment about TPD. Investigations
take time. Evaluating procedures takes time. Third-party oversight
takes time. Encumbering ourselves with all the necessary facts takes
too much time. Leveling blame does not.

Rachel Hoffman's mother has taken steps to form a foundation to honor
her daughter's memory in a positive way. That foundation would seek to
require that confidential informants seek legal advice before
consenting to undercover work and would seek to decriminalize
marijuana convictions.

Now that Ms. Hoffman has been laid to rest, maybe the time has come
for true mourning, reflection and retrospection.